My Heart Belongs to the Sky
by SumDumMuffin
Summary: Steampunk AU one-shot. Aristocrat Glynda Goodwitch attends a ball and is pleasantly surprised when it's crashed by a dashing airship captain.


Glynda sat alone at the extravagant ball, at her own little table, under a chandelier of golden electrical light orbs amid a marble dance floor, as a string and brass band played a popular upper-class remix of music that was originally created by the ironwork laborers a decade ago but had since grown popular with wealthy socialites (partially for its novelty) and then co-opted into a more fancy version.

All the captains of industry and nouveau riche were expected to attend these things, which meant that everyone who wanted to be associated with them was also expected to attend these things, but Glynda didn't personally have much of an interest in them. Ozpin hadn't been able to make it and Cinder was three weeks into a six-month suspension for seducing a priestess.

Which why it was a surprise when someone sat down at her table, interrupting Glynda's long foray into examining the nature of the remaining alcohol in her wineglass.

"Hey," Said a young woman- obviously some sort of privateer, since she still wore her air harness over her dress and under her red cloak (which also clashed with this ball's theme, but who was counting?). She had silver eyes and dark hair that tinted to red at the edges, and she seemed simultaneously nervous and determined, like she was on a mission she needed to do but didn't seem entirely confident about.

Glynda took it in stride. She also took a sip of her drink. "Hello, Miss. Or, perhaps, 'captain'?"

"Captain Ruby," said the girl. She rubbed the back of her head and glanced at the wall before she realized that Glynda had held her hand out. Ruby shook it, instead of smooching it.

Glynda nodded, tentatively, and gently pulled her hand back. "It's nice to meet you. I am Dame Glynda Goodwitch."

"Oh? You were knighted?" Ruby said. She looked impressed, which did improve Glynda's spirits.

"Ah," Glynda recovered with a hand to her collarbone, "I am. I helped princess Ozma with some personal business, a while back."

"That's so cool!" Ruby exclaimed, "My, mom actually, was a member of Ozma's court."

"Really?" Glynda said, "That would make you a duchess."

Ruby rubbed the back of her head. "It, would. If I still lived with the family."

"You had a falling out?"

"More like, I went to charter my own path," Ruby said. "I really want to live up to my Mom's legacy. Or, at least, honour her memory."

Glynda paused. "She's gone, then?"

Ruby smushed her lips together and nodded, solemnly, at the table.

"My condolences." Glynda nodded.

Ruby mumbled some gratitude.

Glynda coughed. "But it would seem you're already off to a great start, if you're the captain of your own airship. Especially at such a young age."

Ruby puffed out her cheek. "I'm not _that_ young."

Glynda chuckled. "Is that a sore spot for you? It's a compliment, to be considered young."

Ruby folded her arms. "Well, maybe when you're _old_."

Glynda evinced exaggerated shock. "Excuse me?" She put her hand to her chest.

Ruby shrunk back, just a bit. It was deliciously cute. "Not- not that I'm implying that you're old."

"I'm pretty sure you are, though," Glynda said, pointedly.

"I didn't- I didn't mean you were _old_ old," Ruby said.

Glynda furrowed her brow. "Just normal old then?"

"I mean- you look beautiful, regardless-" Ruby suddenly choked on her words. Glynda chuckled, at the compliment and at her conversation partner's fluster.

"And, that's not a bad thing," Ruby said, softly, to the wall. "That means you've had a life you've led, and that's pretty compelling, at least to me." She made eye contact, briefly, and Glynda felt her heart jump into her throat.

Glynda coughed to refresh her composure. "I suppose..."

"Then how about," Ruby said, soft and low. She leaned over the table, slightly. "We just mutually accept each other's compliments."

Glynda's glasses fogged up as she maintained eye contact. She adjusted them as she refreshed her composure. "I suppose that's acceptable, but that means we're tied."

"I'm sure you'll find some way to come out on top," Ruby said.

"I'll keep that in mind," Glynda said. She swirled her wineglass a few times.

"I admit, though," the older woman said, "I haven't done so much interesting recently."

"I'm sure you're exaggerating," Ruby said. She smiled. "You're at this fancy ball, right? Something must have happened to get you invited here."

Glynda shrugged. "That just means I did something a long time ago to secure my place as one who gets invited to these things."

"So you're in downtime between adventures," Ruby said. "That's normal. My crew and I do that a lot. Not every day is a heist or a mercenary contract or a random foray to a random part of Remnant to try to gain closure for one part of one of our personal baggage."

Glynda nodded along. "So is crashing a ball part of your downtime, or part of your adventures?"

"Ah," Ruby opened her mouth and glanced aside. "Well, something like that?"

Glynda leaned on the table. "So what's your big adventure today? Robbing the town vault? Casing the ballroom to stage a showdown with a rival shipping company?"

"Well, um," Ruby avoided eye contact.

Something crossed Glynda's mind that again made her heart inexplicably irregular. "Does it involve me?"

Ruby's cheeks reddened. "Um!"

Well, that answered that. Glynda didn't know if she felt excited that something about her had gained the attention of a random sky pirate, but a part of her felt a little used.

"Did you botch the ask _that_ badly, captain?" said a blonde woman with a right arm that appeared to be made entirely of clockwork that clicked when it changed positions.

She was joined by a dark-haired feline-aspect Faunus ninja, who sat down at their table. She had a large plate of the salmon hors d'oeuvres, which the blonde occasionally took pieces of.

Ninjas were a symbol of monastic tradition and personal prowess and provided a thematic counterpoint to the powers of steam and steel that were rapidly industrializing Remnant. It seemed appropriate that one would join an airship crew.

"I, didn't, actually ask yet-"

The blonde turned to Glynda and gestured with her clockwork arm, which was locked around a fistful of hors d'oeuvres. "A long chain of sidequests at this fair port city has led us to believe that a dowager Dame with your description was in possession of an airship that had been docked in the yard for the last few years-"

"Yang!" Captain Ruby swatted at her crewmate.

"Ah, well, I'm not a dowager, but, otherwise that's right..." Glynda said. She wasn't widowed, but pretending to be- or at least, not dispelling the assumption that she was- helped discourage unwanted suitors. And her airship purchase was one of those times where she knew, deep down, that materialistic hedonism wouldn't make her happy and that the status implied by its possession would both not satisfy and fade fast, but the airship saleswoman was very convincing. And there were a few times that not being the only person at the salon without an airship helped her avoid awkward situations.

But also on nonzero counts, being the only person with an airship that she wasn't renting out or commissioning it for spice trade or something, actually generated an awkward situation. So like most things in life, it was value-neutral, and like most things in her life, she hadn't followed up on it to try to make something out of it.

Glynda turned to Ruby, who appeared like she was trying to hide in her cloak. "So, you're telling me you're not the captain of an Airship," Glynda furrowed her brow.

"I am!" Ruby said, "Just, my airship is currently a wreck at the base of a mountain over in Patch..." She poked her pointer fingers together.

"She got 'Port' and 'Starboard' mixed up again," The ninja said.

"I- no, I just got stage port and starboard messed up," Ruby said. She pontificated ineffectually. "Since I was on the enemy ship when I gave that order."

The argument between Ruby and her blonde crewmate continued, eventually culminating into a slap fight (which, Glynda noted idly, was very out of place at a ball).

"So you want my airship," Glynda said, eventually.

Ruby froze in the middle of trying to press her hand onto her crew member's face.

"I- that is the short of it," Ruby said, "Not that you don't seem interesting or nice, just-"

"Aw," Yang said. She smirked and turned to Glynda. "I think she's sweet on you-"

Ruby finished smacking her crewmate, who exaggeratedly feigned being struck. She clicked her clockwork arm into an aghast pose.

"Anyway," Ruby said. She brushed off her cloak, "We can pay you for it, in Lien or random artifacts, or we could run spice for you for a while?"

Glynda took a deep breath and she stared off into the wall as she pondered if there was any sort of materialistic hedonism that would make her happy,

"How about," Glynda downed the last of her wine and glanced towards the band, where the music had paused in preparation for a waltz (but like, a more fancy version), "A dance, as payment?"

"Ah- " Ruby said. She gestured to the blond, "Yang's better at dancing, actually-"

"I'd prefer you." Glynda said. She stood up and she bowed, slightly, and held out her right hand. Yang clicked her clockwork hand into a thumb's up.

Ruby smushed her lips together and blushed at the ground, but she took Glynda's hand.

* * *

The first snag was that Ruby turned out to be a head shorter than her, so Glynda went ahead and danced the lead part.

And that turned out to work out since Ruby didn't seem too familiar with waltzing. Glynda had to show her where on her waist and shoulder to put her hands, and explain the basics, of the dance.

"So, the beat comes in threes, so we take one large step, then two small ones," Glynda explained, and she demonstrated.

"Occasionally, I can lift up your hand-" Glynda demonstrated that as well, "And you'll walk through the arch, as an underarm turn-"

Ruby acquiesced to Glynda's touch, walking under the arch formed by their arms.

"And then to get back to the normal position, you just reverse that." She demonstrated.

"And if you have that down, we can just do that while we take this time to talk," Glynda said, softly.

"Oh," Ruby said, "Is that, part of your terms?"

"Well, considering you apparently researched me in order to find me," Glynda smirked, "You must have me at a disadvantage. So, lets fix that."

"Oh! I mean," Ruby grimaced, "We weren't trying to, like, stalk you or anything. But yeah, I can tell you about myself."

Glynda actually hadn't thought this far ahead.

"Favorite colour?" She began, and then mentally kicked herself for asking something so lame.

"Red," Ruby said, immediately.

And a second mental kick, because, obviously. "Of course. Favorite food?"

"Chocolate chip cookies." Ruby followed Glynda's footsteps.

"Really? That must be hard to get when you're sailing."

"Well, they keep, so I try to stock up when we're in port," Ruby seemed a little embarrassed, "But I do try to get fresh ones when I can."

Glynda was silent as she led Ruby in a spin.

"Favorite place that you've been?" Glynda asked.

"Well, I could say 'home', since, that's where all the nostalgia is," Ruby said, "But Mistral has a very nice castle."

"Ah. Yes, the architectural potential of Cavorite." Glynda said. "How about; what's the thing you most want to accomplish most, as an airship captain?"

"That's a tricky one," Ruby said. They danced some more, and Glynda took the opportunity to do an underarm turn-

But then stop halfway through, to resume the waltz with them dancing side by side.

"I don't think I'd ever want to retire; I'm not doing it as a means to an end," She thought aloud. "So like, making enough money to found a company or earn the princess's favour, are all things that seem nice, but I wouldn't be disappointed if I never got to do it."

Ruby took a breath. They took a few more steps of dance. "I guess, I'd like to see the world."

"How romantic," Glynda said.

And as the song concluded, Glynda took her hand off Ruby's shoulders, to bring it to her face to brush some of her hair away from her brilliant silver eyes.

Ruby glanced down at the dance-floor, but she leaned her face into Glynda's touch. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes lidded.

And Glynda pursed her lips, and leaned down, for the smooch-

Ruby turned her face to the side, allowing Glynda to plant the smooch on her cheek just as the song hit its final note.

"I- I'm very flattered," Ruby stammered, "But, um. I can't accept a kiss."

A little seed of doubt, that she had messed everything up and made it weird, grew in the back of Glynda's mind. "No?"

Ruby didn't resume eye contact. She made a grimace with her "Um! I- I'm kind of focused on my career, right now? And I would, prefer to- to get to know whoever I end up, giving my first kiss to."

For some reason, Glynda found that incredibly adorable. "You haven't had your first kiss?"

Glynda quieted the the doubt in the back of her mind with bravado. "Not even for an airship?" She smirked.

"It- it would feel unkind of me, if I were to, simply smooch you once and then abscond with your airship..."

Glynda paused, as an idea formed in her head. "Then, take me with you."

Ruby resumed eye contact. "W-what?"

"That's an easy fix, isn't it? You need an airship. I wouldn't mind seeing the world. And," Glynda smiled, warmly, "We could get to know each other, during that time."

Ruby smushed her lips together. "Don't- don't you have things to do here, though?"

"Nothing too pressing," Glynda said, "And nothing more interesting than going on fantastic adventures with a dashing sky captain."

"Not- not even your guest lectureship? Your salon?"

Glynda chuckled. "So you _were_ stalking me."

"N-no! We- we just asked around, where we might find you, and that was one of the places people said where we might find you." Ruby stammered. "But Yang and Blake wanted to steal free food from the ball, so we decided to, " Ruby shrugged and flattened her brows. "Plus, Weiss wasn't confident we knew enough philosophy to infiltrate a salon-"

"Anyway," Glynda said. She bowed, a little belatedly, as the next song was starting up, "We should get back to the table. I, can think of something else to ask for, If you want..."

"No, that's fine. Um-," Ruby said. She held her hand out for a dance (only slightly improperly), "I guess- if we're, going to get to know each other more, we can, start with another dance?"


End file.
